Amazon Deferred Transactions: What Sellers Need to Know (and How to Automate the Headache Away)

It’s been almost two years since Amazon sellers have faced a new financial headache: Deferred Payments. Under the DD+7 policy, Amazon withholds payouts until seven days after delivery, not after dispatch. That means many transactions no longer show up in your regular settlements.

For sellers trying to close their books each month, this delay throws off cash flow, P&L accuracy, and VAT reporting. And while Amazon changed the rules overnight, most sellers still don’t have a proper way to adapt - until now.

What Are Amazon Deferred Payments?

Deferred payments are a new policy introduced by Amazon, changing when sellers actually receive the money from certain orders and transactions. 

The two main types are:

• DD+7 (Delivery Date + 7 days): For most consumer (B2C) orders, Amazon now holds funds until seven days after the order has been delivered to the buyer.
• 30-Day Credit for B2B Orders: For business (B2B) orders, Amazon defers the payout for 30 days after the order is placed.

But it’s not just orders that get deferred. Refunds and fees associated with those orders can also be held back and only show up in settlements after the deferment period. This means your financial data can include deferred sales, refunds, and fees, all of which may not appear in settlements until weeks later.

Why Are My Transactions Deferred?

Amazon defers certain transactions based on two key conditions:

• Delivery Date Policy: Most consumer orders are withheld until Amazon confirms the item has been delivered in the promised condition. This helps cover potential returns, claims, or chargebacks.
• Invoiced Orders: For Amazon Business (B2B) sales, payments are deferred while the buyer completes their invoice, typically 30–45 days post-order.

Previously, these withheld amounts appeared as a single lump sum under “Account-Level Reserves.” Now, Amazon shows individual deferred transactions, so you can track which sales are being held and why.

It’s not just the sale that gets delayed. Referral fees, FBA fees, and any refunds tied to a deferred order are also postponed, making accurate monthly bookkeeping nearly impossible without automation.

How Deferred Payments Affect Sellers

1. Settlement Reports No Longer Match Your Sales

You might generate hundreds of sales in a given month, but only a portion of them appear in that month’s Amazon settlement. The rest, especially those delivered late in the period, get pushed into the next cycle. This delay creates inconsistencies between your actual business activity and your accounting data, making it nearly impossible to reconcile sales against payouts or explain fluctuations in income.

2. Your P&L and VAT Reports Are Off

Because revenue, fees, and refunds are deferred, your profit and loss reports may overstate profits or understate costs, including inaccurate reporting of your Amazon COGS, which can seriously distort your margins. You may appear more profitable one month and less the next, purely due to timing, not actual performance. 

For VAT-registered sellers, the risks are even greater. If the correct revenue or refund data is missing, you could easily overpay or underpay VAT, exposing your business to audits, penalties, or compliance issues.

3. Manual Tracking Becomes a Nightmare

Many sellers and bookkeepers try to fix this manually, keeping separate spreadsheets to track which orders were deferred and when they were eventually settled. But as your store grows, this kind of bookkeeping for Amazon sellers quickly becomes unsustainable - too much manual work, too many ways to get it wrong.

4. Inaccurate Data Leads to Bad Decisions

When your accounts are misaligned, you can’t trust your numbers. That affects more than just compliance - it throws off cash flow forecasting, inventory planning, pricing decisions, and tax estimates. Sellers flying blind based on incomplete or delayed data risk stockouts, poor financial planning, or underestimating their liabilities at the worst possible time.

The Manual Workaround (and Its Limitations)

Some sellers try to stay on top of deferred payments by building their own spreadsheet systems. They track which sales haven’t been paid out yet and try to match up refunds and fees manually.

This typically involves:

• Keeping a separate record of all deferred orders, refunds, and fees.
• Reconciling which transactions have and haven’t been paid out each month.
• Adjusting financials manually, sometimes months after the actual sale or refund.

It’s a stressful juggling act. Easy to get wrong, hard to scale, and guaranteed to eat up hours you don’t have, especially if you're processing hundreds of orders a month.

The Automated Solution: Deferred Payment Handling with Link My Books

Amazon changed the rules. Link My Books built a solution.

Our new beta feature fully automates deferred transaction tracking, capturing sales, fees, and refunds in the correct period, and removing them when Amazon eventually settles. That means your monthly reports stay clean and accurate, no matter when Amazon decides to pay.

How It Works

• At Month-End: Link My Books automatically identifies any transactions, including sales, refunds, and fees, that have an order or transaction date within the month but are not yet included in any Amazon settlement (i.e., they are still deferred).
  These transactions are included in your accounts for the month they occurred, ensuring your revenue, expenses, and refunds are reported accurately.
• When the Settlement Arrives: When those deferred transactions eventually appear in a later Amazon settlement, Link My Books automatically “backs out” the original entry, so nothing is double-counted.
  This includes not just sales, but any refunds and fees associated with the deferred transactions.

Link My Books easily connects your Amazon account to Xero and QuickBooks, making your entire accounting completely automated. 

Deferred vs Non-Deferred

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Key Benefits

• Accurate Monthly Financials: Always know your true revenue, expenses, and refunds for each month, regardless of Amazon’s payment timings.
• No More Manual Work: Save time, reduce errors, and eliminate the need for complicated spreadsheets.
• Full Automation: Once set up, Link My Books handles the entire process in the background, with clear reporting and audit trails.
• Peace of Mind: Your accounts will always be up-to-date, making financial decisions, tax filings, and business reviews simple and stress-free.

Time Savings Snapshot

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Total time saved: Up to 8+ hours/month

“This App makes the connection with Amazon and Xero really easy. To know that my complicated Amazon accounting is correct takes a big weight off my shoulders. The customer service is amazing. Any questions are answered thoroughly by real people, taking into account my specific information. I especially love the personalised video replies that show you exactly what you need to do. I can't rate this app enough and always suggest it to other Amazon sellers. Wouldn't it be great if all customer service was like this :-)” 

Start your free 14-day trial today and close your books with confidence. Get started →

Example: Deferred Payments, Refunds, and Fees in Action

Let’s say you receive an order on June 25th, but Amazon defers the payout (and the associated fee and any refund) until July. Here’s how Link My Books handles it:

1. At the end of June, Link My Books identifies the order, its associated fee, and any related refund as deferred and includes them in June’s accounts.
2. When Amazon releases the funds, fees, and any refunds in July’s settlement, Link My Books automatically removes (backs out) the original June entries to prevent duplication.
3. The result: your June revenue, refunds, and fees are complete and accurate, your July figures are correct, and your accountant can finally relax.

FAQ on Amazon deferred transactions

Why did Amazon introduce the new DD+7 policy?

Amazon implemented DD+7 in late 2023 to reduce chargebacks and ensure product delivery before releasing funds. While it may improve customer experience, it delays seller payouts and complicates accounting.

How can I tell if an order has been deferred by Amazon?

You won’t see the order in your settlement report until it’s paid. You can check the order date vs. settlement date if they fall in different months - it’s a deferred transaction. Link My Books detects these automatically.

Do deferred payments affect my profit and loss reports?

Yes. If not handled properly, they skew monthly revenue and profit. You may understate revenue one month and overstate it the next. LMB corrects this by aligning transactions to the month they occurred, not when they’re paid.

What happens if I continue to track deferred transactions manually?

You risk:

• Duplicate entries
• Missed VAT
• Broken month-end reporting
• Time-consuming reconciliations
  Manual tracking may work at low volume, but it breaks down fast as you scale.

Is Link My Books’ deferred payments solution available to all users?

It’s currently in beta and being rolled out gradually. If you’re an existing Amazon user with Link My Books, contact our support team to request access.

Resolve Deferred Amazon Payment Headaches for Good

The DD+7 policy isn’t going away, but the headaches can.

Link My Books automatically solves the deferred payments problem, accurately capturing sales, fees, and refunds in the right period, then reversing them when Amazon settles. No more manual corrections. No more confusing financials.

✅ Works with Xero and QuickBooks
✅ Handles refunds and fees too
✅ Saves hours every month

“Whenever I have a question, I reach out to support and get a fast, helpful response from a real person. It feels good to find actual customer service nowadays. Highly recommend.”

Ready to simplify Amazon accounting? We have a whole team that can support you. 

👉 Start your free 14-day trial and see Link My Books in action.

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